An organic electroluminescent (abbreviated to EL) element includes a pair of electrodes and a light emitting layer provided between the electrodes and containing an organic substance, and the light emitting layer emits light when a voltage is applied to between the electrodes. Since the light from the light emitting layer is extracted through at least one of the paired electrodes, it is necessary that the electrode through which the light is extracted is transparent. For example, an organic EL element on a transparent plate with a transparent conductive film is obtained by forming the transparent conductive film on the transparent plate and the light from the light emitting layer is extracted to the outside of the organic EL element by using the transparent conductive film as the transparent electrode. As a transparent conductive film to be used for a transparent electrode, a thin film formed from a metal oxide such as indium tin oxide (ITO) has been known, for example.